There is an old quote by an unknown author that says:

“Ships don’t sink because of the water around them. Ships sink because of the water that gets in them. Don’t let what’s happening around you get inside you and weigh you down.”

“He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm” (Mark 4:39 NIV).

Use Your Divinely Given Authority!

The Roanoke River which snaked through the woods behind the old elementary school my siblings and I attended as children in Halifax, N.C., was a place of serenity where some of our neighbors often went to swim or fish for trout, croakers, catfish, butterfish, etc. For skillful swimmers, the river was a place of life and peace. It did not matter how deep or powerful the waters were that they were in if they did not allow the water to get in them.

One of my childhood friends, James, contracted a severe leg cramp while swimming in the Roanoke and was not able to get to shore before the water filled his lungs. Sadly, the life-giving place of peace that helped define our early lives proved also to be a place of death.

James’ demise in the river many decades ago was not his fault. He knew how to be in the river and not let the river get inside him, but his body betrayed him. Several of the disciples were skilled fishermen who knew all about boats and winds and waves, but a great windstorm arose out of the blue and the waves dashed against the boat so fiercely that it began filling with water (Mark 4:37).

In 2011, Betty and I were on a boat on the sea of Galilee in Israel when a windstorm suddenly erupted out of nowhere. One lady’s hat which she had been wearing to shield her face from the intense rays of the sun, blew out into the sea. If you were not properly prepared already, there was nothing you could do to get prepared once the gale force winds and breaking waves started rocking the boat.

So how can you be in the water and not allow the water to get in you? Or what do you do when you have already done everything you know to do to keep it out and it comes in anyway? You constantly read the Word of God every day, pray throughout the day, fast, and attend church regularly, but that old serpent, the devil comes switching into your home, your job, your spouse, your children, or even out of the blue in you! What do you do?

Do what Jesus did! Use your divinely given authority to speak to the storm and say, “Quiet! Be still!”  You have been made in the imago Dei, the image of God and He has given you the authority to loose and to bind!

Focus Quote: “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”                      

 –Luke 10:19 NKJV